Department of Theology & Religious Studies

Overview

"God is the Beyond in the midst of life." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Lifelong learning begins by involving all of one's life: body, mind, emotions and spirit. As a student of theology, you are called to study and learn, but also to reflect, decide and engage in the work of creating a better society. Theology and religious studies are academic disciplines and essential branches of knowledge in liberal education. They provide an opportunity to explore the meaning of life, religious commitment, the relationship between faith and reason, and the interplay of religion with culture.

Why choose Wheeling Jesuit University?

Theology and Religious Studies are academic disciplines, essential branches of knowledge in a liberal education. A major course of study in Theology and Religious Studies provides an opportunity to explore your own religious commitments and the relationship between faith and reason or religion and culture in general. A Catholic university provides an excellent context in which this may take place, for it includes within it all methods of inquiry. It is, in Cardinal Newman's words, "able to confute and put right those who would set knowledge against itself, and would make truth contradict truth, and would persuade the world that, to be religious you must be ignorant, and to be intellectual you must be unbelieving."

The Theology and Religious Studies major requires relatively few credits. This allows for maximum flexibility and breadth of scope. Its inquiry into relationships between religion and culture requires that Theology and Religious Studies be interdisciplinary. Courses in science, literature, history and social science support the goals of our major.

The program is designed to prepare students for graduate school in Theology and Religious Studies, as well as to equip students to teach, direct religious education programs, work in journalism or in the media. Moreover, the analytical, logical and historical skills learned in these courses provide valuable background for students who may choose to pursue related humanities graduate degrees or to attend professional schools.

Upon completion of the Theology and Religious Studies program, students will be able to demonstrate the ability to:

Show how religion fills a vital role in the way people view their world.

Recognize the ethical implications of religion.

Foster spiritual growth and care for human life that such growth includes.